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Jury deliberations are set to begin Tuesday morning in the trial of the operators of the now-defunct 1-800-GET-THIN ad campaign, who allegedly used fabricated sleep studies to convince insurance companies to pay out tens of millions of dollars for Lap-Band surgery.
The defense argued during the nearly three-month trial that former weight-loss doctor Julian Omidi, 53, of West Hollywood, and sleep specialist Dr. Mirali Zarrabi, 59, of Beverly Hills, were innocent victims of a con man who falsified test results.
Omidi and Zarrabi face multiple federal counts alleging mail and wire fraud, false statements, money laundering and aggravated identity theft stemming from GET THIN’s Lap-Band surgery and sleep study programs between May 2010 and March 2016. If convicted as charged, Omidi and Zarrabi could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the mail fraud and wire fraud counts alleged in the indictment alone, prosecutors noted.
The Lap-Band weight-loss-surgery business was widely advertised on Southern California freeway billboards, radio and television, attracting people desperate to shed excess pounds. But before insurance companies would pre-approve the $100,000 surgery, prospective patients had to show they suffered from certain afflictions, including sleep apnea.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ali Moghaddas alleged in his opening statement in September that Omidi created a process that turned “patients into profits” by directing employees to “falsely diagnose...
Business THE management of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals has noted with concern the circulation of unfounded and misleading claims suggesting that its petroleum products are export...